Radisson Sas Hotel Norge Bergen

I was helping to run a conference based at this hotel, and therefore had to be based there for four nights. I would not have considered it normally - way out of my price range, even at the conference rate! However, Norway is a very expensive country, and the hotel was reasonable value for money for the location, which is indeed the main attraction. It is in the heart of the city and convenient for everywhere. Thte airport bus stops right by the hotel.

The hotel had an air of faded opulence; my small single room was a bit shabby. On the plus side, it had ample storage space, which is often not the case with single rooms, and the bathroom was bright, clean and well equipped. My room and balcony looked out on the square which others have found noisy. I did not have a problem with this at all, even though my first night there was Norway's national day and it was party, party, party ... I did complain about noise but that related to the plumbing (pipework) inside the hotel, which clanked every time guests in neighbouring rooms used the bathroom in the night.

The food was excellent: plentiful, varied, never tired-looking as buffets can get sometimes. The conference facilities and service were exemplary, though this will not be much comfort to tourists. The best part of the hotel was the Library Bar: book-lined, comfortable and quiet. I found all the staff (reception, dining room, conference and bar) friendly, accessible and helpful.

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Staying at the Hotel Norge for 4 days was quite a pleasant experiance. Apon arival the reception staff were ready for our party and were very helpful. The only problem was that they didn't seem to know the payment method for my room, as my company would be paying.

The hotel itself is very clean and comfortable, with my room being near the top it provided some spectacular views night and day. The TV was easy enough to use and the bathroom was well equiped for a comfortable stay. The wireless broadband connection is a great addition. There is a trendy bar next door - with the town centre, park, large shopping centre, pool, a few good pubs and clubs, and of course a McDonalds within short walking distance. If you get the chance have a look at the fish market.

My only complaints were that the rooms can be quite noisy. As this was one of the hottest days of the summer the lack of air conditioning forces you to keep the windows open, for what little good it does. At night even on one of the upper floors with the window closed you can hear almost everything going on in the street, along with the constant noise of the large fountain outside. A few nights I was disturbed by clubbers from the local nightclub in the early hours, and the street along the western side of the hotel seems to be used as a taxi rank all night.

The other complaint was the food. Although the quality was excellent it was a very limited fixed menu that would probably get a bit boring once you had tried everything once.

Overall I think the good points outweighed the bad points, and I would seriously consider staying again.

Located in the very heart of the city, this hotel would be fine for business travelers were it not packed with tourists of every size, shape and number. As it is, it seems always crowded with tours, the lobby is small and always crowded. The reception desk is NOT helpful and always requires a long wait.

The rooms are adequate at best. The bathrooms are small and the showers are tiny. The hotel does not have air conditioning (as few do in Norway) so if it is warm (as it was when I was there), the rooms are stiffling and the windows either do not open or open a crack. Thus, it is very uncomfortable.

Breakfasts generally come with the price of the room and, in this case, that says very little. There is a large breakfast room with a 'buffet' that consists of many items - the 'hot' ones are cold and the cold ones are warm. The tables are, for the most part, long 8-seaters so you may yourself with babies, families, etc. All in all, breakfast is NOT a pleasant experience.

The principal (indeed, only) benefit of the hotel is its central location. It is expensive generally and for what you get it is VERY expensive. Frankly, it was a big disappointment and I would sacrifice the location in a heartbeat for a nicer hotel a little further away. Actually, the location can be a disadvantage as there are young skateboarders using the square as their practice areas so there is the constant din of skate board jumping. A must miss.

If you are a business traveller, or a leisure traveller that enjoys the refinement of a better business hotel while on holiday, do NOT stay here. I have just returned from three days here and here are a few observations:

There are so many tour busses here that you sometimes have a hard time navigating to the elevators through all of the luggage and people in the smallish main lobby. Then you sometimes have to wait several minutes for an elevator; this is true at all times, not just at check-in time. The very large breakfast room felt like summer camp, mobbed at all hours although, on the plus side, there was enough seating. Housekeeping left something to be desired; the one bar of soap in the room was not ever replaced and the hotel informed us that it could not provide us washcloths because they "did not arrive from the cleaner." I have never experienced a hotel which ran out of washcloths for 3 days. My room rate on the business floor called for a newspaper which did not arrive on any of my 3 days. One more note about the business floor: the breakfast room is on the 2nd floor and is shared with all hotel guests, not just the business customers. The single beds in the business floors were very soft; I was told the business rooms did not come configured with either a queen or kind bed. On the up side: the location is good on the main square and there were not any serious cleanliness issues. The staff was friendly. My tip: check out the other SAS property in Bergen here before booking at the Norge.

Stayed here in August 2004. We orginally reserved a regular double room, but when we saw how shabby and dated it was, we paid the extra 35EUR (approx.) for the business class room. That was very nice, modern, with a great view of the city lake behind the hotel. Good location to walk around all of Bergen, not just Bryggen.

Yes, breakfast had a variety of good food, but in the summer season, the breakfast room was a crowded cattle call. Get there early.

Stayed here in the Summer of 2003. Got upgraded to a suite, which was beautiful. Breakfast was very nice (Scandinavian breakfasts in general aren't too spectacular) service was lovely. Hotel is located in a great part of the city. Would recommend to anyone.

My room wasn't available when I arrived at midday. I came back at 3pm: they checked me into a room with a single bed, when I'd booked a double. Room 2 was full of cigarette odours, although I'd booked a no-smoking room. Room 3 was literally unbearably hot (OK, it was the hottest day of the summer in Bergen, but there was no air con and no windows to the outside world). I finally ended up in a small, dated single room - with an apology from the duty manager, a discount on the bill and an electric fan, so at least they tried.

Overall, though, truly terrible: this was in no way up to modern international business hotel standards. I wouldn't have minded too much if I'd been there on business, but I'd only booked the hotel (on a holiday) as it was supposed to be the nicest in Bergen. I'd hate to see the worst...

Stayed for one night. Nice room with a nice view. Asked for a high floor and got it. Good breakfast in the morning. The location of the hotel is excellent for sightseeing and the staff was helpful.

Rooms on the small side though...

Went to Bergen last week for an A-ha concert and decided to pick this hotel because of its central location. That is one selling point for this hotel, it is close to everything so you can walk to most places. When we got there we were not allowed to come in through the main entrance (due to some conference delegation) and had to find our way through a well hidden back entrance.

On arrival we waited at the reception desk in front of the young receptionist. She was busy chatting on the phone and didn't acknowledge us at all. Even a smile would have been appreciated. We had been waiting 15 minutes and she still hadn't stopped. She acknowledged me with a filthy look when another receptionist appeared.

We eventually got checked in and went to our room to discover it had 2 single beds, not the queen bed I had booked. I went back down to ask for another room but was told that actually there were no queen beds and that they push the beds together. I know this is common practice in Europe but the bedding hadnt even been tucked over to make it appear as a queen bed. I went back to the room and did my own handiwork on the beds.

Room was absolutely freezing and when we finally worked out how to put the heating on it only seemed to heat the bathroom. Decor was drab and uninspiring, totally unexpected as I had heard the hotel had been renovated recently in a 'modern style.' An interesting feature in the hotel corridors was the lighting - which consisted of ordinary bayonet lightbulbs hanging from a long piece of string hung along the length of the corridor...

Room was so noisy. Everyone in Bergen likes to have a good time at night and I'm all for that but even with the windows closed you could hear everything. It was very distracting.

Hotel offers a room service agreement with the local pizza company;you order the pizza, it gets sent to your room and it is put on your hotel account for you to pay later. We tried this and the pizza arrived after 1 hour 45 minutes...at least the hotel had the decency not to charge us for it.

The saving grace of this hotel is the 'Super Breakfast,' which is included in most room rates. There was a superb choice of breads, cereals, juices, fruits, cooked meats, fish (including some very nice smoked salmon) and cooked breakfast items like bacon and eggs. But this is Scandinavia.

A-ha stayed at the Clarion Hotel Admiral. I think I should have aswell.